I think that semifinals are the big divider in tournaments.
It's the point where all of the teams that got through by luck or weak opposition generally get beaten.
Following my theory, my team wouldn't win our semifinal because in the quarterfinals the other team forfeited, which qualifies as luck.
However, my team proved that my theory isn't necessarily correct.
In our semifinal game, we took the lead shortly after a good cross from my friend Lucas resulted in me scoring. Later in the half, Lucas himself scored.
In the second half, after a series of short passes, Lucas got off another good shot and scored.
Now all of this was taking place in Manteca, at a field where the goals happened to be quite a bit smaller than in Alameda. And if it weren't for the goal size, we would have had a fourth goal on a penalty kick.
But we were still leading 3-0 in the second half. Despite our (until then) near-perfect defense, the other team managed to squeeze in a goal.
At this point my coach had us play with four defenders, so we could have a more solid defense.
We had a few more scoring opportunities, but they came to nothing. In the end it was a 3-1 victory for us.
It seems that sometimes my theory is true, but it can be proven wrong. The only bad thing about winning a semi-final... We have to drive out to Manteca again next weekend. At least it's for a championship game (I'm pretty sure that's a good enough reason)!
